Closet Organizing and $100 AmEx Gift Card Giveaway

I have partnered with Apartment Guide as an Official Apartment Guide Organizing Blogger.
This has been a great opportunity to be able to share budget-friendly and space-friendly tips, projects and ideas.

Whether you live in a home or an apartment we are all in search for more space, especially in our closets.
Having permanent shelving is not always possible, that’s why I love using portable shelving units.

I use them in my children’s closets to organize everything from clothing and shoes to toys.

I like adding storage totes to the shelves to contain smaller things.

But you can also leave some shelves open to hold larger items and even display items.

They can also be used instead of a dresser to hold clothing.
And what I like most about them is they can easily be moved to another location.
Either within your own home or if you move.

This unit sits next to my small desk to hold all the supplies and files I need close at hand.

Since I have a laundry closet instead of a laundry room I needed extra storage space.
These units are perfect to add that extra space above my washer and dryer.

The giveaway will be open until Friday, March 30th and then will be randomly drawn on Saturday.

“Like” Apartment Guide on Facebook at Facebook.com/apartmentguide, follow them on Twitter <a target=”>@AptGuide and “circle” them on Google+for real-time tips and updates on making the most of your space and living on a budget.

· If you’re ready for a whole new space or are looking to move, Apartment Guide has the photos, floor plans, features and tips to help you find the perfect apartment community.

Apartment Guide and owner Consumer Source, Inc. have partnered with bloggers like me as Official Apartment Guide Bloggers. As part of this program, I have received compensation. They have not told me what to purchase or what to say about the products used, and believe that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. Consumer Source’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.

I have about two feet of space between the ceiling and the tops of my kitchen cabinets. I have large baskets up there for extra storage. So I know what is in each basket without having to pull them all down, I keep a list taped into the inside of the door of the cabinet below each basket.

I have two 3-drawer plastic units in my newborn’s closet and each drawer is labelled for a size of clothing. All the clothes up until 12 months have been washed, folded and placed in the appropriate drawers (we have a whole wardrobe from our first child). It’s great because her room is not really big enough for a full set of furniture and this leaves more space for her to play in the future.

Hmm…I’m still working on being organized, so I wouldn’t say I have an incredible tip. I guess have extra empty baskets just kinda hanging out around the house – – you can use them to hide the extras when guests are coming or to easily carry clutter from one room to the room it belongs in.

My best tip is to purge regularly. At least twice a year I go through my cabinets and closets and get rid of everything I haven’t used since the last purge. It keeps my home from becoming cluttered and makes keeping my “stuff” organized easy!

Well, my husband will tell you that I am a list maker (he thinks I have lists for my lists). But other than lists to keep me organized I have a slight obsession with bins/baskets. It makes things so much easier when everything has a nice little place to hide away. And it’s also nice that you can teach your 2 year old which toy goes where and he organizes them correctly. Yep, I’m raising an OCD child.

My favorite organizing tip is to make school lunches the night before and have everything ready to go for the next day with folders in the backpacks so we are ready to go out the door (even if we wake up late.)

I’m still working on organizing our house – it’s expensive to do all at once! But I like the thought of using bins and smaller containers for sorting so you can maximize space. I just did our master bathroom and I love it – next weekend it’s my craft/sewing closet!

my favorite organizing tip is to clean out clothes often! I start the year by facing hangers one way… after I wear the shirt/dress and wash it, I’ll turn around the hanger. Whatever still has the original hanger position gets donated the next year.

With organizing the best thing I ever did with organizing is to put a full size armoire in my dining area (directly off my kitchen) and use this to free up some of my kitchen cabinet space! I live in a apartment so this space is much needed! I used the clothes hanging bar by putting in some decorative shower hooks and hung all of my pots and colanders- this even left enough room for a dish rack below for the p0t lids! then the two drawers underneath hold baking supplies and pans and there is one more shelf in there that holds all of my glass bowls and corningware! I even have extra cabinets in the kitchen now! yes in a apartment!!! Also, I never have to dig for a pot i open the doors and they are all hanging in plain view!!! Sometimes i open it just to look b/c i love it so much lol!

My favorite organizing tip is a tip from my mother and she probably got it from her mother and so on. I’ve heard it often from others too and it’s the only way to keep my house in order.
A Place For Everything And Everything In Its Place

Never leave a room without taking something with you that doesn’t belong there and put it away right then. Works like a charm, although sometimes my arms are full and I have to go to several rooms to put things where they belong!!!

When you go from room to room in your daily routine, pick something up and drop it off in it’s proper location on you way to the next task. So yes your essentially “cleaning” all day but it doesn’t feel like it because it just takes an extra minute or two.

I have a basket for each child to dump his/her lunch box, backpack, papers, etc. in when they get home each day. They are labeled with a little chalkboard with each child’s name on it. It works good because both the children and myself know where to find their stuff – even my 19 month old son!

I love labeling and making a spot for everything. If everything has a spot, its easy to put everything away. I also like to take 5 minutes before I got to bed to sweep and clean counters! That lil bit of time each night makes the house feel organized to me!

I’m not a great organizer, but I’m getting better! One tip I picked up from Pinterest is to use a picture frame (minus the glass) to frame a pretty piece of lace, and use it to organize your dangly earrings! It keeps them easy to find, and almost becomes a work of art in itself!

Containerize! and lable! those are my two favorite organizing tips. Things are just so much easier to find/put away and look so much more organized when you containerize! and labling of course gets things back into the right container!

My best organizing tip….I learned this one from someone on Pinterest….at the beginning of the year, have your hangers facing the opposite direction….as you wash your clothes and re-hang them, hang them the “right way” and at the end of the year, those on the hanger still in the opposite direction, donate them since you haven’t worn them in a year. Since I’m the one that does the laundry, I’ll be able to see what we haven’t worn….thanks for the great giveaway!!

Don’t throw away items with organizing potential! Designate an out-of-the-way spot (under the bed, for example) to save things like shoe boxes, the bottoms of (clean) cracker boxes, empty checkbook boxes, etc. Then challenge yourself to USE the (free!) containers you’ve saved. If it’s a big box, cover it with cool fabric and throw some Legos in. If it’s a lot of little boxes, play Tetris and fit them into your junk drawer and finally get things sorted/organized/purged. There’s something to be said for taking it one or two little containers at a time–it feels a lot less daunting to pick 1 type of thing from the pile (twisty ties from the bread! rubberbands!) to containerize than to look at a huge junk drawer mess and feel like you have to find a place for everything. Pick 1 thing and, soon enough, it’ll all be sorted!

I like to keep my closet organized by hanging like things together … long sleeve button downs in on section, plain ts together in another, cardigans together, etc. And if I’m really feeling crazy, maybe even color -coded
It makes me happy knowing I can quickly find what I need!

I love the idea that if you have a lot of shoes of either keeping them in their original box and storing them at the bottom of the closet or getting the clear plastic storage boxes and labeling them and keeping them at the bottom of the closet to keep shoes organized and from becoming crushed
tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com

One problem I have with organizing is that I have too much stuff! So I (indavertantly) got on a charity’s phone list. They have pickups in my neighborhood every 2-3 weeks. I keep a charity box handy and put things in there as I come across them. It’s very easy to do and I don’t have to feel pressure to go through some huge purge. It’s much easier to organize when I’m left with only what we truly want/need.